Office



0. WINSTON.

HEADLIGHT.

A-PPLICATION FILED SEPT. 5. 1916.

1,336,602. Patnted Apr. 13, 1920.

1%. @ZHJJZ M UNIT OVERTON WINSTON, 0F MIINEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

HEADLIGHT.

Application filed September 5, 1916.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that T, Ovnn'ron V INSTQN, a citizen of the United States, residing at ls linneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Headlights; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Particularly, my invention relates to headlights provided with shifting light sources within concave reflectors, and the invention provides, in combination therewith, frosted or otherwise dimmed light obstructed surface, all as will hereinafter more fully appear.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views. Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 shows the reflector in vertical section, and a two filament light bulb in side elevation; and

Fig. 2 shows the reflector in horizontal section and the light bulb in plan view.

The two filament light bulb occupies fixed position in respect to the reflector and has the hot spots of its two filaments, one at a and another at Z), and when combined with proper electrical connections and switches for rendering the two'light sources operative, at will, as, for example, in my pending application S. N. 86,852 filed of date March 27, 1916, and entitled Headlights, affords a shifting light source at the two spots a and b. The said light source a is at the axis of the reflector, and the source b is vertically offset above the axis of the reflector. The reflector is indicated, as an entirety, by the numeral 1 and the light bulb is indicated, as an entirety, by the numeral 2. The reflector is, of course, a concave reflector and, as illustrated, it is constructed on the lines of a hyperbola having its focal center at pointa. In such an arrangement with the light source at a, the reflected rays will diverge in respect to the axis of the reflector, and when the light source is shifted to' b, all of the more intense rays from the inner zone of the reflector, between the points cw, will be given a downward inclination in respect to the axis of the reflector, thereby throwing the more intense part of the beam onto the ground a short distance ahead of Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 13, 1920.

Serial No. 118,841.

the automobile to which the headlight is applied.

These rays that may be thus thrown down ward or below a horizontal line, may be treated as the controllable rays, while the rays from the outer zone of the reflector, between the points :0 and :0 on the upper portion of the reflector, and which cannot be thrown below the horizontal, when the light sour e is shifted from a to Z), may be treated the uncontrollable rays. These uncontrollable rays from the upper portion the reflector produce a blinding effect in the eyes of persons in a passing machine and should be dimmed to prevent blinding. It is desirable that these uncontrollable rays be dimmed when the controllable beam is thrown downward, as required for citydriving. This result 1 accomplish in an extremely simple and efiicient way by interposing a light dimming surface between the light sources and the upper portion of the reflector. This light dimming surface is preferably a frosting 3, directly applied on the upper portion of the light bulb by the process disclosed in my pending application, Si. N. 106,375 filed of date, June 28, 1916 and entitled, Electric headlights. When the light bulb is a true sphere and the frosting is applied by the said process, it will have a true circular form, and its marginal portion will be in a common plane produced by the clipping of the bulb in the liquid for producing the frosting. The so-called uncontrollable rays are in the zone indicated by the light lines drawn from Z), one to point a" and one to point 00 and it will be observed that these lines touch, or approximately touch the front and rear portions of the frosting 3, so that the said frosting will dim most of the so-called uncontrollable rays and thus prevent blinding effects.

A frosting thus applied, however, does not dim any of the direct rays, either when the light source a or light source 2) is active.

What I claim is:

1. In a headlight, the combination with a concave reflector and two light sources therein, one approximately at the axis and one above the axis thereof, of a light dimming surface interposed between said light sources and the upper portion of the reflector and extended between lines drawn in a vertical plane from one of said light sources, one to the upper front edge of the reflector and the other approximately to the point on the upper inner portion of the reflector Where the reflected rays are not brought below the horizontal or parallel to the axis of the reflector, when the light source is shifted from the axial to the vertically offset point.

2. In a headlight, the combination with a concave reflector and two light sources therein, one approximately at the axis and one above the axis thereof, of a light dimming surface interposed between said light sources and the upper portion of the reflector, and extended between lines drawn in a vertical plane from one of said light sources, one to the upper front edge of the reflector and the other approximately to the point on the upper inner portion of the 'reflector where the reflected rays are not brought below the horizontal or parallel to the axis of the reflector, when the light source is shifted from the axial to the vertically ofltset point, the said light sources being a two filament light bulb and the said dimming surface being a frosting applied on the upper portion of said light bulb.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

OVERTON WINSTON.

WVitnesses:

BERNIOE G. WVHEELER, HARRY D. KILGORE. 

